


The Wild West of Depression

by Anonymous



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Depression, Gen, Irondad, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Tony's depressed. Luckily, Peter's there to cheer him up.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Anonymous





	The Wild West of Depression

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for obvious projection reasons. Having a bad night, but I chose the healthy coping mechanism of writing over all the other tempting choices. Yay me.

“Hey, Mr. Stark.”

Oh, for the love of—

“Kid,” he greets, and though he tries to add some cheer to it, it comes out flat. Hollow. Lifeless.

Peter continues, voice still full of pep, “I know it’s late, but FRIDAY said you were up and I was in the area, so I figured I’d pop in and—hey, are you...okay?”

He’s finally rounded the table, facing Tony, and whatever he sees, it evidently isn’t good. 

If Tony had anything in him to give, he would laugh. Instead, he just says:

“Fine.”

“O...kay. Okay.” Peter shifts on his feet. “Is now a bad time? I mean, I could go, if you were about to go to bed.”

“I wasn’t going to sleep.”

“Oh.”

They’re quiet for a couple of seconds. Tony wants to bang his head against the table. It takes everything in him—all of his everything—to remain still, to remain normal.

_ Keep your cool, Stark. Not in front of the kid. _

Tony’s words grind out like two pieces of metal scraping together: “What’s up? How was patrol?”

Suddenly subdued, Peter says, “It was good. I stopped a couple of muggings, a car theft. I actually had something I wanted to ask you… But I could always ask you next time.”

“Ask me now. I have time.”

That’s all life is, huh? Time. Not enough and too much.

“Okay.” Peter paces as he continues, “Well, I was swinging around when this one guy offered me a sandwich, and I was like, well, shoot, that actually sounds kinda good.”

“You shouldn’t accept food from strangers,” Tony says simply.

“Well, right, not usually,” Peter says, “but this wasn’t completely a stranger? I mean, kinda? I think his name is Olly. He runs that bodega down at…”

He trails off when he meets Tony’s eyes. “Anyway, he, like, is legit, so I was like, maybe it’s okay to accept the sandwich? I mean, I didn’t, but I was really thinking about it, Mr. Stark.”

Tony lets himself ponder it for a moment. Yeah, this sounds about par for the course when it comes to the things the kid gets involved in. Rather than commenting further on it, Tony says, chin held in his hand:

“You don’t have to call me ‘Mr. Stark,’ you know.”

Peter stops his pacing at the non-sequitur. 

“Just ‘Tony’ would be fine,” Tony continues.

“Do you… Do you want me to call you ‘Tony?’”

Shrugging, Tony says, “Call me whatever you want.” 

“Well…” Peter pulls out a chair, sitting across from Tony. “Well, what do you want me to call you?”

With another shrug, Tony sighs, “I don’t care.” He takes in a breath and puts more energy into his next line. “I just want you to be comfortable.”

Now it’s Peter’s turn to shrug. He offers Tony a smile as he says, “Well, I don’t care, either. Now what? I feel like we’re in a Wild West stand-off.”

Mouth flat, Tony breathes a laugh through his nose. 

Peter continues, “Do you have a coin?”

Tony doesn’t keep change. He pulls his wallet out of his pocket and digs out a bill, tossing it across the table towards Peter.

“I—” The kid’s quiet for a second. Then he bursts out a laugh. “Mr. Stark, how am I supposed to flip this?”

“That’s not my problem,” Tony says as he puts his wallet away.

“I guess I’ll make it work. Heads or tails?”

Tony just looks at him.

“Okay, tails.”

He tosses the bill in the air, and it flutters back down onto the table.

“Ha! ‘Mr. Stark’ wins!”

Tony pats his hands together in a half-hearted clap. 

“Here’s your hundred-dollars back.”

Tony waves a hand. “Keep it.”

Peter’s eyes go wide. “Mr. Stark, I can’t keep this. I’ll just leave it right here.”

Tony looks at him, and he doesn’t mean to give him a dead stare, but it’s not really a choice. “Use it for lunch money, or something.”

“But I—”

“Kid. It’s fine.”

Peter’s quiet for a second. Eventually, he says, “Okay. I’ll sneak it back in your pocket later, or something.”

It’s almost enough to get Tony to smile. Almost. 

There’s more quiet between them. Tony can’t bring himself to care about it. 

“Really, Mr. Stark. Uh, Tony. Are you doing okay? You seem a little...off.”

Tony does force a smile this time, the tiniest upturn of the corners of his lips. “Kid, you’re too good to be dragged down in my shit. I’ll be fine.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No.”

“What if I did a little dance.”

It’s not a serious offer, but Tony thinks it might be entertaining enough. And if it gets the focus off of him, then so be it. 

He holds out a hand as if to say, “Be my guest.”

“I’m not actually going to dance for you, Mr. Stark.” The kid pauses. “Unless you think it would help?”

“Kid, I’m fucking with you.”

Peter starts to rise. “Because I will do it—”

“Peter, sit down.”

Tony sighs. To hell with it. 

His smile is strained, but it’s there. “Kid, listen. Things get like this every now and then. You don’t have to keep a sad old man company. I’m sure you have better things to be doing on a Saturday night.”

“No way!” Peter immediately denies. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nuh-uh. True shit.”

It draws another breath of laughter out of Tony. “Watch your mouth.”

“Sorry-not-sorry. But really… I can go, if you want.”

“You should go. Live your life, follow your dreams, etcetera.”

A second of silence.

“Let me rephrase: Mr. Stark, can I stay?”

“I don’t see why you’d want to.”

“Can I, though?”

Tony should insist he leave. The kid’s too good. He doesn’t deserve to be sucked down into his shit. 

“Sure.”

“Cool, I will, then.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

They stare at each other for a moment. Peter smiles. “I’m really glad I came, Mr. Stark.”

Tony sighs. He offers a smile of his own. “Me, too, kid. Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Give me some positive vibes, folks.


End file.
